Like the end-of-the-world scenario from Nevil Shute’s futuristic novel On the beach, a feeling of impending desolation seems to hang over Indonesia as it waits for what health experts fear may be a slowly-ticking coronavirus …
Articles by: "John McBeth"
Joko Widodo’s campaign to turn back the rising tide of Islamisation in Indonesia may become the dominant preoccupation of his second five-year term as president, overshadowing his far-reaching infrastructure program and perhaps even efforts to …
Days out from the world’s biggest single-day elections and the polls in Indonesia show President Joko Widodo holding an almost unassailable lead over challenger Prabowo Subianto, in contrast to the surprisingly tight contest the same …
When Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi delivered her traditional annual foreign policy review recently, she made a point of referring to last month’s separatist slaughter of 19 construction workers in rebellious Papua. ‘Indonesia’, she declared, …
The Indonesian government’s long and difficult task of developing Papua just got a lot harder after Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels slaughtered at least 16 construction workers who were building a 4,320-kilometre highway that will …
It is finally dawning on Indonesia’s political elite that holding presidential and legislative elections on the same day next April could sound the death knell for as many as four of the 10 political parties …
The shocking involvement of three families in a wave of bombings across the port city of Surabaya has announced the arrival of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a loosely organised Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate that may …
With opposition parties threatening to play the Islamic card on a broader scale, the appointment of National Intelligence Agency (BIN) director Budi Gunawan to a leading position on the Indonesian Mosque Council raises interesting questions …
Rather than assuming the mantle of a distinguished elder statesman, former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has done himself considerable harm by mixing religion and populism in an unsuccessful effort to create a political dynasty. …
After the debacle over Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) commander General Gatot Nurmantyo’s short-lived unilateral suspension of military co-operation with Australia, can President Joko Widodo afford to let his military chief serve through until his mandatory …
Indonesia’s failing drive for food self-sufficiency, which began under the government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is costing domestic consumers tens of billions of dollars and has led to the highest rice prices in the Southeast …
Not given to panic or over-reaction, President Joko Widodo’s decision to postpone his visit to Australia was well justified in the face of the biggest mass demonstration on the streets of Jakarta and other Indonesian …